500 000 new showa arrive at EmeraldKoi...

[EmeraldKoi]

Yesterday I had my first successful attempt at hand stripping a pair of Dianichi Showa. I took a risk using my best fish, but it seems to have been the right thing to have done.

I heated up my spawning chambers by 2 deg per day for 3 days, and yesterday afternoon the showa pair were chasing.

I had constructed a hammock for the female, (74 cm dianichi) as I had seen on the sakai video, and popped her in without anaesthitising her at all. The eggs flowed out like a waterfall and were caught in a salad bowl, duly assisted by the "mid"wife.

The male was anaesthatised and gently milked, while the wife did the trick with a syringe, harvesting about 20ml of sperm By the way, this is the first time I have extracted sperm from another male - (its not really so bad!)

Anyway the two were mixed for a minute in the bowl, with the alad spoon of course, and then the eggs placed into a funnel, which was then gently swept over a five filter brushes, which I used as a hatching media. As the eggs hit the water. they swell, and I believe that the sperm only enter then? Is this correct?

The nice thing is the eggs are all neatly placed on the media, and not all over the floor. See pic of a filter brush with eggs.

By this afternoon, 30 hrs later, the fertility was evident in that the embryos were already well formed - see attached pic. I was impressed with the fact that almost all the eggs were fertile, far better than the fish spawning themselves.

They are now in a small heated hatchery (PIC ATTACHED), and I expect fry to hatch by late tomorrow. I should get 500 000 fry, by my estimated counting of the eggs off the photos I took. Already now 40 hrs after spawning (i just took a peep) the fry are rotating in the eggs and have well developed eyes.

Last year I used a really poor quality pair, but have since aquired the dianich pair in the pic below, so I expect good stuff. If they hatch and survive the first three days, I will cull and keep only the black fry, which go into a 700 000 litre hatchery which awaits them. When I caught the pair out of my main pond , I also managed to catch and photograph one of the babies from last year, pic attached. This one is from poor lineage, and not even from a showa to showa cross, so I hope this season will produce a few crackers from the better bloodline.

I'll follow up with a few pics as they hopefully hatch and as the culling progresses, but as always its no good to count your koi before they hatch ...

[kevan]

congrats and thanks for sharing the pictures ,

please keep us up to date with plenty of pics

kb

[Birdman]

Very interesting. Looks like the way to go. Keep us informed on how it goes.

[Sangreaal]

Looks like a bumper crop, Paul. Thanks for all the pics! Can't wait to see all the fry--that's going to take a while to cull. I take it that the most showa come from the black fry. What comes from the light colored ones in a showa x showa spawn?

Marie

[PapaBear]

Crapagoi , Fertilizer , Fishmeal ...

[junglegeorge12]

Can we get a pic of your hammock? Thx for sharing the experience. Keep us posted on their development.

What's up with your post papabear? Is it an attempt to be amusing or insulting or both?

[kgt1223]

Simply amusing and factual I'm sure.

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by junglegeorge12 ...What's up with your post papabear? Is it an attempt to be amusing or insulting or both?

A simple reply to Sangreal's question about the culls. I'm looking forward to seeing what the dark ones turn out like too, but the rest we'll never know.

[junglegeorge12]

Ahhh I see, I misread your post papabear, sorry.

Still hoping to see some pics of your hammock and how you rigged it up, and the fry development.

[Sangreaal]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear Crapagoi , Fertilizer , Fishmeal ...

I figgered that, Larry

I asked because in my Sarassa spawns I get black and gold fry. The black fry turn into the gorgeous red and whites or solid red, the gold fry turn into whites with tancho markings on their shoulders or heads, or just plain white. Shows how condensed their genetics are. So naturally I wondered about the showa breeding and what kind of diversity comes out of the light fry. I would think that the light fry would give some kind of indication of what not to breed to in the future, i.e. what else is in the genetics of that particular pair of oyagoi.

Marie